Still Hunted?
"Ahh. Today feels like its going to be an awesome day." Comato playfully spoke aloud. A presence stirred inside Comato and a voice said, "You should really stop speaking aloud when talking to me. People are going to think you're a psychopath." The voice replied jokingly, showing it's humorous side. They both laughed about the small joke but Comato's laugh was filled with sarcasm showing that he didn't get it what was funny. It had been a little other a week since Comato had recovered from an illness and finally connected to his . In such a short time the two became quite fond of one another and has since built a wonderful friendship. "Anyway. What should we do today?" Comato asked Hagoromo hoping to actually get a suggestion today. "Don't ask me. I'm just a voice inside of your subconscious." Hagoromo replied. Comato groan at the answer that he had always seemed to get when asking that question. "I don't even know why I ask that question." Comato sighed slightly pouting at Hagoromo's response. Shoving his hands inside the pockets of his jacket, Comato continued his trail though the thick forest. Meanwhile, in Amegakure. The weather was rather stormy even compared to the wavering weather of the country. The sky was completely obscured with black clouds and the rain covered the entire village. The place was completely obscured with darkness, only to be illuminated for an instant by the roaring lightning that echoed through the streets. The rain dropped on the ground creating lovely ripples. These ripples are only disturbed by the footsteps of a mysterious shadow. A woman strolled the streets of Ame, bearing an umbrella in her hand. The woman was tall and absolutely gorgeous. Her luscious hair and feather jacket were the things that stood out in her appearance. Despite her undeniable beauty, every single citizen, even shinobi in the streets were absolutely terrified from her. It appeared in their eyes. They couldn't utter a word in her presence, as if they were in the presence of a demon. The woman couldn't care less for the mob. She continued in her path towards a certain bar in Amegakure. She entered casually. Suddenly, the bar which was filled with laughter and joy turned grim in an instant. Her strides were slow and short, it was as if she enjoyed the fear, the aura that surrounded her. She closed her umbrella and made her way to the counter. She sat beside a mysterious looking man who was wearing a straw hat, which obscured his visage. Some men whispered "So that's it, she came here for another contract, she never walks in the streets unless she has a job to carry out." the man was drinking sake, he glanced over at the mysterious woman. "So you came" he commented. "The offer was hard to refuse, the money's good. And it seems this time I'll enjoy my time. I'm sure the target's skills live up to his bounty, no?" she said. "Of course, just know that he's not a small fry, you won't take him down easily. Do you accept the job?" the man questioned in a casual tone as he took yet another sip of his sake. The woman looked over at him and smirked "You can bet your life on that. Literally, heheh." she commented sarcastically as she chuckled. The man glanced at her then took a paper out of his pocket and gave it to her "The information about your target and his location is all written down. I'll wait here at the same time next week. I hope you return alive." the man teased her. She responded by chuckling a little before she put the paper in her pocket and stood up. "You think I might die...?" she then took a few steps away from him, giving him her back. "Not bloody likely!" she exclaimed, brushing her hair with her fingers. That sick smirk never parted her visage. She took her umbrella and left the bar. Everyone seemed relieved as she left the place. The man took the last sip of his sake. "Damn, even I feel sorry for the man. She's no ordinary kunoichi. She's the only kunoichi who took on the entire Kirigakure head on and managed to escape the government for over thirty years, pulling off one of the most terrifying slaughters in history. She's the Tsuki no Chigen (月の血幻, Bloody Phantom of The Moon), Yūzuki" As he continued his trail inside the thick forest, Comato couldn't help but grow weary of his somewhat boring life. "I need some action! Something to make my days a little more exhilarating." He thought aloud hoping to spark another conversation between Hagoromo and he. "Are you still talking to yourself?" The elderly man asked. "You should really find someone to journey along with you. I hate seeing you all lonely and what not." Comato hung his head at Hagoromo's remark, realized that they were thinking the same thing. "I honesty can't help that I'm considered a criminal and that no one likes me." It had grew quiet after as both men were in deep thought. "Well you might get to meet someone sooner than you think." The Sage suddenly said. Confused by what he was referring to, Comato keep walking sighing at his return frustration. Little does he know, he is being monitored by the Bloody Phantom. Her presence is completely concealed. Her chakra cannot be sensed, not even a single grain of it. That is one of the most essential characteristics of an assassin. "So that brat is my target, interesting." she says. Her body is shrouded by the intercepting bushes, completely hiding her physical presence. It is also nighttime, making her completely invisible as the only source of light was the crescent moon that illuminated only a small portion of the path. "Well, I guess I'll go with my classic method" she says to herself. Suddenly, mist started to appear. However, the mist did not appear instantly. In order to fool the shinobi, the mist starts to appear gradually through the path of the man until he's completely concealed in the mist. Due to the presence of a water source, which is the rivers in the forest, not only was it east to employ the technique, but it also seemed as a natural phenomena rather than a ninjutsu technique. This is intended to fool the man into thinking it was merely an act of nature rather than a death trap. As the man is still comprehending the odd change in climax, Yūzuki uses her large pipe to blow countless bubbles that make their way towards Comato silently. The bubbles didn't make any sound. It's as if their presence is completely obscured even to sensory, which is almost impossible even for someone of Yūzuki's caliber. After making their way towards Comato, the bubbles explode making a huge blast that destroys a big portion of the surrounding environment. After a few moments of complete silence a thick mist settled in around him. Being in a forest, Comato initially thought nothing of it, assuming that it came from a nearby river or something of the sort. As a precaution, he scanned the area for any sources of chakra to confirm that the mist as made by nature. He did not feel the presence of anyone else besides the spirit of Hagoromo that was contained within the shell of his body. He did, however, detect the chakra from within the mist. Knowing that normal mist did not contain chakra to any extent, he concluded that the mist had been set up to effectively take him out. "Looks as if people still want me dead." The man thought to himself. Not feeling a primary source of which the chakra originated he sought to quickly dispel the mist to reveal the person hiding behind it. Suddenly, Comato exerted his chakra with tremendous force. Not wanting to completely intimate the opposing suspect. He only exerted enough of his outstandingly powerful chakra to clear the mist, even unintentionally sending her own attacks back in the direction in which they came, causing them to explode elsewhere. He heard the loud explosions and was concerned that he harmed the person. "Uhh. Are you alright?" He shouted in the distance. The bubbles are blown away from the man. However, the mist isn't even phased by the release of his chakra. "Looks like he's a dunce one. Trying to clear the mist using chakra? like that'd work." she says disappointed as she thought her opponent would even attempt to outwit her strategy. His plan failed as he used chakra, which is a form of energy to destroy the mist, which is similar to gas. The wave of chakra would simply propagate through the mist rather than disrupting it. Oddly enough, not even the wind caused by the release was able to derange the highly thick fog, despite the fact that wind is strong against mist. "Well, shall we begin, prey?" the woman asks out loud. However, the voice seems to be coming from the mist rather than a specific area. She bluntly describes Comato as a "prey" out of her desire to kill him. The mist engulfing the man begins to rapidly drain his chakra, using it to expand in proximity. Disappointed by his failed attempt to release the mist from around him. Although he was pretty positive that the wind created from his chakra would have been more than enough but somehow the women's mist was resistant to strong winds."What the crap? What kinda abnormal steroid mist is this?" The latter exclaimed showing little annoyance. Slowly noticing that the mist was becoming thicker as time passed and he eventually saw that his chakra was being drained directly from his body, which was feeding the mist. "Maybe this is the reason why I couldn't dispel it with my first try." Even with the mist absorbing his chakra in rapid succession, simply due to his incredibly large supply of chakra, it would take a significant amount of time to drain his body completely. "Listen. Who ever you are. If you refuse to halt you assault on me, I will be forced to retaliate." "Is that so, well why don't you retaliate then? show me your true strength, it's not going to matter much either way. You're doomed!" she says teasing the man. "What a beautiful night, the full moon is begging for slaughter and bloodshed, embrace the moment and enjoy it while it lasts, you're life is going to end soon anyways. Ergo, you should savor every last moment of this encounter ... though I doubt you'd be enjoying your time." she says sarcastically, increasing the rate of chakra absorption in the mist causing it to grow much thicker and widen in adjacency. Despite the fear and terror that engulfed the area due to Yūzuki's presence, the forest seizes a very graceful view. Unharmed, yet not for long as the two forces are about to collide. "I guess that I don't really have a choice." Comato sighed channeling his chakra throughout his body. "Just remember! You asked for it!" Clapping his hands together, Comato's eyes spun to life revealing their Eteranal Mangekyō form. "This should do the trick!" Comato shouted forcing his arms apart, releasing a shockwave that could be comparable to Shinra Tensei. Having more than enough power to clear the mist and knock over several trees in the process. The woman chuckles at the shinobi's attempt brushing her hair back as it dances in the air from the motion of the wave. Nonetheless, the man's plan didn't go according to his expectations. The mist isn't knocked away, it is merely distorted before being restored back into its original calm state. As for the wave, it gradually weakenes as it progresses through the mist making it completely insignificant compared to the original strength of the actual attack. "Are you a fool? Seems so. I'm sure you already comprehended that my mist isn't ordinary, it possesses a chakra absorption effect. You merely used a wild wave of Yang chakra to distort the mist, which ended up in its absolute consumption, considering I'm a master of chakra absorption. Don't you see? all you did was feed my reserves while abating yours. It seems you're not as sharp as I imagined, shinobi." she says with arrogance, mocking her opponent's attempt to disrupt her mist. "Well, shinobi. Your time is running out, as well as your chakra. I can tell that the last attack also damaged your reserves quite a bit." she resumes her smugness. "Nice trick." Comato complemented the woman. "But now its my turn." Comato smiled as he begun to walk through the mist. "I hope you are ready for what happens next. I have plenty of chakra left." He stated referring to his Six Paths Chakra. "You sound like a woman. I'm going to have some real fun with you." Comato said almost sadistically. Reassuming Hagoromo that he had a plan, Comato scanned through mist as his chakra kept being absorbed. Activating a single Rinnegan contain within his left eye, Comato created a barrier that protected against ninjutsu by absorbing it. But in this case the ninjutsu had chakra absorption properties. Using the barrier around him, he could efficiency cancel out the chakra absorption with chakra absorption. "Now this mist is useless to you. And I would bother trying a sneak attack. If you get to close to this barrier the chakra will be drained directly from your body." "Is that so?" she says with very little anxiety on her visage. "You think that this little seal is going to win you the battle? You are shortsighted. Every technique possesses a weakness. I doubt you can keep that technique up forever." she says with a very calm tone. Her sereneness is very unusual considering she's facing the ultimate Dōjutsu. "Let me tell you this, shinobi. You had already lost the battle the moment you stepped inside my mist. You were under my since the beginning." the woman says with confidence letting out a chuckle. "Now tell me, have you ever felt ... true fear? If you didn't, I assure you that you're going to taste it after this encounter. Too bad you'll be dead." she mocks the man as she starts weaving hand seals in quick succession without wasting a single moment. She finishes the combination with the serpent hand seal, chanting the name of her technique "Zettai Inmei no Jutsu". Suddenly everything goes black for Comato. As if all his senses are stripped away from him in an instant. "Well shinobi, are you enjoying my masterpiece? Behold, my ultimate Genjutsu! Now you're completely under my control. You see only what I want you to see and you hear only what I want you to hear. Everything here is false, nothing is reality ... except me! Now shinobi, how about we have some fun, no?" her voice echoed from everywhere around Comato. He's trapped in Yūzuki's ultimate technique, using the mist as a medium of chakra to cast the Genjutsu. All of his senses are under Yūzuki's command. "Now then, let me savor this moment, heheh." she says cunningly. Yūzuki's desire is to attack the man's will before his body. She enhances Comato's pain reception by manipulating his sense of touch. She enhances his pain reception to about five times more. Weaving another succession of hand seals, she announces the name of her following technique's name "Mugen Kōkyo no Jutsu". Utilizing her immeasurable killing intent, she was able to enhance the effect of the technique greatly. Comato is subjected to a succession of terrifying illusions where he dies over and over and over again in very painful methods. The torture is enhanced even more due to the augmentation of his pain reception. "Now, lets see how long he can last, heheh." the woman says to herself keeping a fair distance away from the tortured Comato. While his body isn't damaged, his mental state is devastated due to the illusionary pain, which proves to be unbearable. "Oh is that so? Your implemention of is wack. It really turns out that you are the dunce one." Comato's voice seemingly spread throughout the mist, echoing from every direction. "You should learn to control your illusions better. Make things more realistic. I immediately knew something was up with your mist didn't disburse when I exerted my chakra." Comato stating remaining rather calm. "Why do you think I was wasting chakra for no absolute reason, instead of flying in the air. Your hints that you were using genjutsu were quite obvious. I could even assume that you were using it just by the sound of your voice." Comato began to laugh at this point. "As soon as I spotted the mist I knew for a fact that something was odd." Suddenly, Comato could no longer see. Along with his other four senses were taken away, leaving him with nothing but amplified feeling. He then fell to the ground, groveling unforgiving pain. Imagining of a death that would supposedly come to him in the near future. The severe pain induced by the genjutsu caused his heart rate to drop substantially as he slowly entered cardiogenic shock. Hanging on to the little life he had left, Comato heard a faint voice say, "You must focus. You can stop this yourself. It's not going to end here. Get up." The voice encouraged. Slowly the woman's intended thump card would be nullified, thanks to Comato's ocular powers. Using his Sharingan he was able negate the genjutsu thus releasing him from his visual imprisonment. Due to prolonged exposure to the chakra absorption feature in the mist, Comato's chakra levels would soon be nearly depleted. "I can't waste anymore chakra on this." The man spoke as his breathing showed severe signs of fatigue. "I'll reimburse your levels with the seals." Hagoromo added has he started to regulate Comato's chakra with his own. "My senses are still impaired. She really wants to kill me. Why can't I feel anything?" Sighing at his situation, Comato pondered on what route he should take next. "You need not to focus on your visual prowess. Even your dōjutsu have limits. You are so dependent on your eyes that you cannot use your mind to help you in situations such as these. Use your mind and let the environment around you be your guide." Comato relaxed as his eyes reverted back to their black onyx color. "Remember that the seals with buy you only a few minutes." Clearing his mind of all thoughts, he stood in the same spot not moving a single muscle. Inhaling lightly, Comato absorbed the energy from the area, canceling her chakra absorption with his own. Black markings appear around and under his eyes as well as one in the middle of his forehead reminiscent of a third eye, showing the signs of a true sage. "I can feel the source of the chakra." Dashing toward the source of the chakra, Comato quickly neared the woman's position, quickly unsheathing his sword he aimed to surprise the woman with a quick attack. "Tch, Sage Mode. How troublesome." the woman notes as she sees the man dashing towards her. She halts the chakra absorption in order to avoid absorbing any of the natural energy by accident. However, she already consumed a great deal of Comato's chakra as he was under the chakra draining for over five minutes. "You think you're going to touch me with that? Take a hike." she says as she uses Body Flicker Technique in order to augment the velocity of her body by overflowing her body with chakra. She merely leans sideways to avoid the man's blade. In an instant, she uses her immeasurable speed to get behind the man. His momentum makes it hard for him to change directions in time. "Lets see how you deal with this." she says smirking as a black wave that resembles black mist is spawned from underneath her coat, attempting to engulf the man and clinging to him. "Hakuraku no Jutsu" the woman announces the name of her technique. In sage mode, Comato's overall sensory abilities are at their peak meaning that he would feel the slightest of chakra surges in the atmosphere around him. Immediately after missing his initial assault, the man started channeling fractions of chakra to continue with a follow-up by assembling a clone that sprung from the mid section of his back. The clone emerged from Comato mere moments before the woman reappeared behind him. Sensing the pending danger in the form of chakra, the clone quickly shoved Comatonout of the path of the attack, leaving the clone to suffer a fate that would have been his own, while only a few feet away from the woman. Realizing that there can be no more negotiation with such a person, he concluded that the time to end this battle was in fact upon them. Solely relying on his ability feel the presence of chakra, he was able to lock on to her signature's direct location. Reactivating the power of his mangekyou, man sought to create a wormhole near if not directly on the chakra signature of the woman. The wormhole also had a force of suction to put her in, on top of having both eyes active the process of the technique would be twice as fast.